By Agnes York – Saskatoon, Sask.
While having a dishwasher is considered standard equipment in kitchens these days, the house I grew up didn’t even have a kitchen sink! We didn’t have indoor plumbing at all.
Dishes were washed in a dishpan on the kitchen table. The pan was half-filled with water taken from the reservoir on the wood stove or from a filled kettle.
Without a draining rack, we’d put washed dishes in another pan until they were dried with a tea towel. We didn’t often rinse them unless there were a lot, like when we had company. The dishes were usually done after each meal.
There was a washstand with a basin for washing our hands and face. It was filled with warm water from the stove or with water from a pail and dipper that was also our drinking water. A larger pail for waste water sat either under the washstand or beside it.
No extra counter space
The kitchen had no built-in cabinets. There was only one cabinet that held dishes in the top and pots and/or baking supplies in the bottom. The bit of counter space between held canisters or jars for coffee, tea, and sugar.
With no extra counter space, the kitchen table was used for many things we now use a counter for, such as rolling cookie dough. It was also where we placed the bowl for mixing the batter for all of our baking, and for kneading bread dough, all done without electric mixers and very often without recipes.
The table was also used for peeling potatoes and all vegetable and fruit preparation. Sealers for canning were filled on the kitchen table.
The grinding machine was attached to the table for grinding relish or jam ingredients. It was also used to grind meat for hamburger and sausage, and lard for rendering. At butchering time, the kitchen table was used to cut up pork and beef. It was also here that chickens and other fowl were cleaned. When all that was done, the table was cleared and meat was wrapped on the kitchen table.
Babies in bathwater
It was also on this table that cloth for sewing garments and other household linens was cut, many times without a pattern. Small repair jobs such as shoes, clocks, and maybe even harnesses and binder canvas were done on this table.
Babies were bathed in a small tub or basin placed on the kitchen table too. The list of uses for the kitchen table could go on. This same table, which was usually covered with oil cloth, was used for having coffee and casual visits with relatives, friends, and neighbours who dropped in.
It was used for all the family meals, and many important family decisions and plans were discussed, and made, while seated around it. The dining room table was used only for special occasions and Sunday company.
Today we no longer have such a kitchen table. In our kitchen, along with our built-in cupboards, fridge, stove, dishwasher and sink, sits a wee table for two. We use this for breakfast and lunch.
A larger table sits in the the dining area for evening meals and for company. I often think the warmth and versatility of that old kitchen table will never be recaptured.
